The risk of damaging a plastic component, such as an electrical switch, is greater when the component is very small because the thickness of the material plastic is typically very thin. Accordingly, the component is more likely to be subjected to permanent plastic deformation. Such deformation is generally impermissible for components because it renders the component unusable or modifies its operating characteristics unacceptably.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,803,321 describes an electrical switch comprising a base made of insulating plastic located on the upper face of a printed circuit board. The electrical connection terminals of the switch that connect the switch to the conducting tracks of the printed circuit hoard can be inserted into holes in the printed circuit board. To avoid excessively large deformation of the insulating base when a vertical actuation force F is applied to the push-button, the central part of the base includes a foot, molded with the base, which extends vertically as far as the upper face of the printed circuit board.
A component designed in this manner has the drawback of increasing the total height of the component. Moreover, such a component is not suitable for surface mounting by reflow soldering because the component “rises” by a variable amount during soldering. The amount by which the component rises can be critical and impermissible for a very thin component.